Spatial Planning and Sustainability in the Application of the Olympic Agenda 2020

Growing concerns over the sustainability of sports mega-events have reduced the number of cities willing to host them. In response, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) launched Agenda 2020 in 2014 to reform the extant Olympic bidding process. It aims to encourage the use of existing or temporary venues and adaptive spatial strategies which minimize environmental and financial burdens. This paper investigates how Agenda 2020 has reshaped the spatial and environmental dimensions of Olympic planning by comparing Paris 2024 and Milano Cortina 2026; the first Summer and Winter Games fully organized under this framework. Through comparative case study analysis, the paper examines the relationship that exists between global sustainability goals and local planning practices, focusing on the spatial logics, legacy strategies, as well as the plans of the Saint-Denis and Porta Romana Olympic Villages. The study demonstrates that while Agenda 2020 promotes more flexible and territorially distributed configurations–diffused and constellation models–in its two applications, it tends to favour already wellequipped regions and produces uneven environmental and social outcomes. Despite the progress achieved through the new Agenda, the findings highlight the contradictions that exist between the IOC’s sustainability discourse and the territorial realities of host cities and regions. In so doing, it offers insights for future megaevent planning and policy design under conditions of environmental pressure and hosting-requirement constraints.